.    .'V 


Trautne^in 

^^^3y  strikes  are  Lost, 
Hoiw  to  Win. 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 

Mrs.  Charlotte  Steiner 


Library 

Institute  'cf  Industrial  Relations 

University  of  California 

Los  Angeles  24»;  California 


'^ 


nm\  uuLJiuimm 


Standard  literature  on  Industrial  Unionism 

Why  Strikes  are 
Lost-  How  to  Win 


BY 

W.  E.TRAUTMANN 


NEW  YORK 

Industrial  Literature  Bureau 

I909 

y^STITUTE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  REUTIOfiS 
LIBRARY 


Gopyright,    1909. 


Industrial    Literature    Bureau 


HJ> 


WHY  STRIKES  ARE  LOST. 
HOW  TO  WIN. 

By  W.  E.  Trautmann. 


Why  strikes  are  lost. 
After  a  tremendous  outbreak  of  an  epi- 
demy  of  strikes,  only  a  few  years  ago, 
there  seems  to  be  at  present  a  relapse  all 
around,  a  relapse,  not  only  so  far  as  the 
numerical  growth  of  alleged  labor  organi- 
zations are  concerned,  but  more  a  relapse 
in  the  militant  and  rebellious  spirit  of  the 
workers.  A  spirit  that  manifested  itself 
then  in  crude  expressions  and  actions, 
which,  however,  seemed  to  ne  a  forebod- 
ing of  a  general  awakening.  Here  and 
there  one  can  again  hear  of  small  erup- 
tions of  pent-up  discontent,  as  if  denoting 
the  last  flicker  of  light  before  it  goes  out 
altogether.  If  occasionally  larger  bodies 
of  workers  become  involved  in  these  de- 
monstrations of  revolt,  politicians  and 
labor  (mis) leaders  are  quickly  on  hand 
to  suggest  termination  of  the  conflict  with 
the  promise  of  speedy  arbitration.  But 
seldom  is  anything  more  heard  of  the  re- 
sults of  such  conciliatory  tactics,  or  of  any 
determined  stand  on  the  part  of  the  work- 
ers to  enforce  the  terms  of  such  settle- 
ments. Their  power,  once  crushed  after 
having  been  exercised  with  the  most  cf- 

878931 


fective  precision,  their  confidence  van- 
ivshes  and  also  the  organization  through 
which  they  were  able  to  rally  tlie  forces  of 
their  fellow  Avorkers  for  concerted  moves 
and  action. 

After  an  apparent  awakening  of  three 
to  four  years  duration  (1901  to  1905), 
during  wich  sotne  of  the  largest 
conflicts  were  fousrnt  out  on  American 
soil,  a  general  indifference  superceded 
the  previous  activity.  A  lethargy  prevails 
even  to  the  extent  that  many  workers 
with  eyes  still  shut  are  marching  into  the 
pitfalls  laid  for  them.  Blindfolded  they 
are  to  be  prevented  from  coming  together 
into  organizations  through  which  the 
workers  would  be  able  to  profit  from  the 
lessons  of  the  past,  and  prepare  for  the 
conflicts  with  the  capitalist  class  with 
better  knowledge  of  facts  and  more  thor- 
oughly equipped  to  give  them  better 
battle. 

In  the  period  mentioned  the  general 
clamor  for  an  advance  in  wages,  the  short- 
ening of  the  hours  of  labor,  had  to  find 
its  expression.  The  prices  of  the  neces- 
sities of  life  had  been  soaring  up,  as  a 
rule,  before  the  workers  instinctively  felt 
that  they,  too,  had  to  make  efforts  to 
overcome  the  increased  poverty  concomit- 
tant with  the  increased  prices  for  the 
commodities  needed  for  existence.  Power- 
less as  individuals,  as  they  well  conceived, 

—  4  — 


they  were  inclined  to  come  together  for 
more  collective  and  concerted  action.  In 
great  displays,  the  beauties  and  the 
achievements  of  such  collective  action  on 
craft  union  lines,  as  exemplified  by  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  and  the 
eight  independent  National  Brotherhoods 
of  Railway  Workers,  were  presented  to 
them. 

Not  knowing  better,  seeing  before  their 
eyes  immediate  improvement  of  their  con- 
ditions, or  at  least  a  chance  to  advance 
the  price  of  their  labor  power  in  propor- 
tion to  the  increased  cost  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  they  flocked  into  the  trade 
unions  in  large  numbers.  At  the  same 
time  the  relative  scarcity  of  available 
workers  in  the  open  market,  at  a  period 
(tf  relative  good  prosperity,  forced  the 
employers  of  labor  to  forstall  any  effort 
to  cripple  production.  Consequently  in 
the  epidemic  of  strikes  following  each 
other,  the  workers  gained  concessions,  but 
such  concessions  were  as  much  the  com- 
bined result  of  a  decreased  supply  of  labor 
to  an  increasing  demand,  as  to  the  spon- 
taneously developed  onrush  into  the  trade 
unions. 

One  thing,  also,  contributed  largely  to 
the  success  of  these  quickly  developed 
strikes.  The  workers  would  come  together 
shortly  before  walking  out  of  the  shops. 
In  the  primary  stage  of  organization  thus 

—  5  — 


formed  they  knew  nothing  of  craft  dis- 
tinctions, and  unaware  of  what  later 
would  be  used  as  a  barrier  against  stay- 
ing together,  they  would  usually  strike  in 
a  body  to  win  in  most  cases.  But  anxious 
to  preserve  the  instrument  by  which  alone 
they  could  obtain  any  results,  they  found 
in  most  of  the  cases  that  certain  rules 
were  laid  down  by  a  few  wise  men  in  by- 
gone years,  by  which  they  were  to  govern 
the  organizations  and  admit,  or  reject 
from  membership  any  one  who  did  not 
strictly  fit  into  the  measure,  or  "Craft 
Autonomy." 

What  is  Craft  Autonomy? 

It's  a  term  used  to  lay  down  restrictive 
rules  of  each  organization  wich  adheres 
to  the  policy  of  allowing  only  a  certain 
portion  of  workers  in  a  given  industry  to 
become  members  of  a  given  trade  union. 
Formally  as  a  rule,  a  craft  was  deter- 
mined by  the  tool  which  a  group  of  work- 
ers used  in  the  manufacturing  process. 
But  as  the  simple  tool  of  yore  gave  way 
to  the  large  machine,  or  machines,  the  dis- 
tinction was  changed  to  designate  the 
part  of  a  manufacturing  process  on  a 
given  article,  by  a  part  of  tlie  workers  en- 
gaged in  the  making  of  the  same. 

For  instance,  in  the  building  of  a  ma- 
chine the  following  crafts  designated,  as 
performing  certain  functions,  namely: 

—  6  — 


The  workers  preparing  the  pattern — 
pattern  makers ; 

The  workers  making  cores — Core  mak- 
ers; 

The  workers  making  moulds  and  cast- 
ing— Moulders ; 

The  helpers  working  in  the  foundry — 
Foundry  helpers ; 

The  workers  preparing  and  finishing 
the  parts  of  machines — ^Machinists ; 

The  workers  assembling  the  parts  of 
machines — Assemblers ; 

The  workers  polishing  machines — Metal 
polishers. 

This  line  of  demarkation  could  thus  be 
drawn  in  almost  every  industry. 

Now  these  various  crafts,  each  con- 
tributing its  share  in  the  production  of 
an  article,  are  not  linked  together  in  one 
body,  although  members  or  these  crafts 
work  in  one  plant  or  industry. 

They  are  seperated  in  craft  groups. 
Each  craft  union  zealously  guards  its 
own  craft  interests.  The  rule  is  strictly 
adhered  to  that  even  if  the  protection  of 
the  interests  of  a  craft  organization  is  de- 
trimental to  the  general  interests  of  all 
others.  No  interference  is  countenanced. 
This  doctrine  of  non-interference  in  the  af- 
fairs of  a  craft  union  is  what  is  called 
"craft  or  trade  autonomy." 


How  craft  autonomy  works. 

Now  us  observ(.'(.l  iu  tlie  begiiiiiing,  a 
body  of  workers,  ouly  shortly  brought  to- 
gether may  walk  out  on  strike,  before 
they  ever  learned  to  know  what  craft  au- 
tonomy implies.  They  usually  win  in  such 
cases.  As  soon  as  they  begin  to  settle 
down  to  do  some  constructive  or  educa- 
tional work,  so  to  keep  the  members  in- 
terested in  the  affairs  of  the  organization, 
and  prepare  eventually  for  future  con- 
flicts with  the  employers,  they  learn  to 
their  chagrin  that  they  have  done  wrong 
in  allowing  all  to  be  together. 

They  are  told  that  they  had  no  right  to 
organize  all  w^orking  at  one  place  into  one 
organization.  The  splitting-up  process  is 
enforced,  trade  autonomy  rules  are  ap- 
plied, and  what  once  a  united  body  of 
workers  without  knowledge  of  the  in- 
tricate meaning  of  "autonomy  laws"  is 
finally  divided  into  a  number  of  craft  or- 
ganizations. 

The  result  is  that  no  concerted  action  is 
assured  in  the  conflicts  following.  Many 
a  time  the  achievements  of  one  strike  or 
conflict,  won  only  because  the  workers 
stood  and  fought  together,  are  lost  in  the 
next  skirmish,  when  one  portion  of  work- 
ers, members  of  one  craft  union,  remain 
at  work,  while  others,  members  of  another 
trade  organization,  are  fighting  for  either 
improved    working    condition,    or  in  re- 


sistance  against  wrongs  or  injustice  done 
them  by  the  employing  class. 

Take,  for  example,  the  first  street  car 
workers'  strike  in  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  in 
the  first  year  of  Mayor  Schmidt's  admin- 
istration. Not  only  were  all  motormen, 
conductors  and  ticket  agents  organized  in 
one  union,  but  the  barnmen,  the  linemen 
and  repairers,  and  many  of  the  repair 
shop  workers  enlisted  in  the  union,  also 
the  engineers,  the  firemen,  the  elec- 
tricians, the  ash  wheelers,  oilers,  etc.,  in 
the  power  stations.  They  all  fought  to- 
gether. The  strike  ended  with  a  signal 
victory  for  the  workers ;  this  was  the  re- 
sult because  the  workers  had  quit  their 
v.'ork  spontaneously.  But  hardly  had  the 
workers  settled  down  to  arrange  matters 
lor  the  future,  and  to  make  the  organiza- 
tion still  stronger,  when  they  found  them- 
selves confronted  with  the  clamor  of 
"craft  autonomy  rules." 

They  were  told  that  the  electricians  in 
the  power  houses,  linemen  and  line  re- 
pairers had  to  he  inembers  of  the  Inter- 
national Brotherhood  of  P]lectrical  Work- 
ers. The  workers  heard  to  their  amaze- 
ment that  the  engineers  had  to  be  mem- 
bers of  the  International  Union  of  Steam 
Engineers. 

The  firemen,  ashwheelers  and  oilers 
were  commanded  to  withdraw  at  once 
from   the   Street   Car    Employees   Union, 

—  9  — 


and  join  the  union  of  their  craft.  The 
workers  in  the  repair  shops  were  not  per- 
mitted under  trade  autonomy  rules  to. 
form  a  union  embracing  all  engaged 
therein.  They  had  to  join  the  union  of 
their  craft,  either  as  machinists,  mould- 
ers, polishers  or  woodworkers,  and 
would  not  be  permitted  to  be  members  of 
any  other  organization.  They  were  re- 
strained by  the  rules  of  craft  autonomy 
from  being  members  of  a  union  embracing 
all  in  the  industry,  even  if  they  had 
chosen  to  remain  members  by  their  own 
free  choice.  They  were  not  allowed  to 
think  that  their  place  would  be  in  such 
an  organization  through  which  the  best 
results  with  the  least  of  sacrifices  for  the 
workers  could  be  obtained. 

In  the  second  strike  of  street  car  work- 
ers in  1907  the  absolute  failure,  the  com- 
plete disaster,  was  solely  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  workers,  separated  in  several 
craft  groups,  could  not  strike  together 
and  win  together.  Like,  or  similar  cases, 
by  the  hundreds,  could  be  enumerated  to 
show  what  grave  injuries  to  the  workers 
craft  autonomy  works.  And  when  the 
deep  investigator  will  follow  in  the  in- 
vestigation of  facts  and  underlying  causes, 
he  will  be  surprised  to  see  hoAV  the  em- 
ployers of  labor  took  advantage  of  this 
dividing-up  policy.  lie  will  see  how 
the  capitalist  helped  gleefully  to  pit 

—  10  — 


one  portion  of  workers  against  others  in 
the  same  or  other  industries,  so  that  the 
latter,  while  kept  busy  fighting  among 
themselves,  had  no  time,  nor  could  they 
gather  strength  to  direct  their  fights 
against  the  employers  and  exploiters. 
The  Sacredness  of  Contracts. 

Perhaps  the  workers,  (although  com- 
pelled in  most  of  the  cases  to  adhere  to 
the  outline  plan  of  organizing  in  craft 
unions),  would  have  made  common  cause 
with  other  crafts  in  anyone  Industry  in 
their  conflicts  with  the  capitalists,  if  they 
had  realized  that  the  defeat  of  one  ultim- 
ately meant  the  defeat  of  all. 

But  with  the  separation  from  other 
groups  of  workers  a  craft  or  sectarian 
spirit  was  developed  among  members  of 
each  of  the  trades  organizations  that  man- 
ifested itself,  and  does  so  now,  in  their 
relations  to  other  groups  of  workers  as 
well  as  to  the  employers  of  labor.  "Gains 
at  any  price"  even  at  the  expense  of 
others, — has  become  the  governing  forces. 
The  rule  of  "non-interference"  made 
sacred  by  the  decrees  of  those  who  blat- 
antly j)oso  as  leaders  of  labor,  permitted 
one  craft  union  to  ride  rough  shod  over 
the  others.  Let  us  go  ahead,  the  devil 
take  the  hindmost"  has  drowned  the  old 
idea  of  the  "injury  to  one  is  the  concern 
of  all." 

A  great  victory  is  proclaimed  in  print 

—  11  — 


aud  public  when  one  or  the  other  of  such 
eratt  organizations  succeed  in  getting  a 
contract  signed  with  an  individual  em- 
ployer, or  what  is  considered  still  better, 
if  it  is  consummated  with  an  association 
of  employers  in  a  given  industry.  But 
actuated  by  that  sectarian  spirit  these 
contracts  are  considered  to  be  inviolable, 
not  so  much  by  the  employers  who  will 
break  them  any  time  when  it  will  be  to 
their  advantage,  but  by  the  workers  who 
are  organized  in  craft  unions.  Embued 
with  their  sectarian  ideas,  thus  by  the 
terms  of  such  a  contract  they  are  in  duty 
bound  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  em- 
ployers if  they  should  have  controversies 
with  other  workers,  the  workers  consent 
to  being  made  traitors  to  their  class. 

Small  wonder,  therefore,  that  in  that 
period  between  1901  and  1905,  the  time 
that  these  lessons  and  conclusions  are 
drawn  from,  the  employers  were  able  to 
check  first,  then  to  retard,  and  finally  to 
paralize  the  workers  in  securing,  by  their 
organized  efforts  permanently  improved 
conditions  in  their  places  of  employment. 
The  employers,  supported  by  such  lieute- 
nants of  labor,  as  Gompers,  Mitchell,  Dun- 
can and  others  (as  they  were  rightly 
called  by  Marcus  Aurelius  Hanna  when 
he  organized  the  Ilanna-chist  Civic  Fed- 
eration), would  harp  continually  on  the 
sanctity   of  contracts   with   some   of  the 

—  12  — 


craft  unions,  while  at  the  same  time 
slaughtering  piece-meal  other  craft  unions 
with  whom  they  were  in  conflict. 

Of  the  thousands  and  odds  of  strikes 
that  took  place  in  that  period  and  thence- 
after,  none  bears  better  testimony  of  the 
impoteucy  of  the  craft  unions,  not  one 
has  presented  better  proof  of  the  shame- 
less betrayal  of  working  class  interests 
than  the  gigantic  strike  of  workers  in  the 
meat  packing  and  slaughter  houses  in 
Chicago,  Omaha  and  other  places  in  the 
country. 

The  meat  wagon  drivers  of  Chicago 
were  organized  in  1902.  They  made  de- 
mands for  better  pay  and  shorter  hours. 
Unchecked  by  any  outside  influence  they 
walked  out  on  strike.  They  had  the  sup- 
port of  all  other  workers  in  the  packing 
houses.  They  won.  But  before  they  re- 
sumed work  the  big  packing  firms  in- 
sisted that  they  enter  into  a  contract. 
They  did.  In  that  contract  the  teamsters 
agreed  not  to  enter  into  any  sympathetic 
strike  with  other  employees  in  the  plants 
or  stock  yards.  Not  only  this,  but  the 
drivers  also  decided  to  split  their  union 
up  in  three.  They  then  had  the  "Shaving 
teamsters,"  the  "Packing  house  team- 
sters," and  the  "Meat  delivery  drivers." 

Kncoiira^'cd  Ity  the  victory  of  the  team- 
sters, the  other  woi-kers  in  the  packing 
houses  then  started  to  organize.    But  they 

—  13  — 


were  carefully  advised  uot  to  organize 
into  one  body,  or  at  the  best  into  one 
National  Trades  Union.  They  had  to  be 
divided-up,  so  that  the  employers  could 
exterminate  them  all  when  ever  opportun- 
ity presented  itself. 

Now  observe  how  the  dividing-up  pro- 
cess worked.  The  teamsters  were  mem- 
bers of  the  "International  Union  of  Team- 
sters." The  engineers  were  connected 
with  the  "International  Union  of  Steam 
Engineers,"  The  firemen,  oilers,  ash- 
wheelers  were  organized  in  the  "Brother- 
hood of  Stationary  Firemen."  Carpenters 
employed  in  the  stock  yards  permanently 
had  to  join  the  "Brotherhood  of  Carpen- 
ters and  Joiners."  The  pipe  and  steam 
fitters  were  members  of  another  "Na- 
tional Union,"  The  sausage  makers,  the 
packers,  the  canning  department  workers, 
the  beef  butchers,  the  cattle  butchers,  the 
hog  butchers,  the  bone  shavers,  etc.,  each 
craft-group  had  a  seperate  union.  Each 
union  had  different  rules,  all  of  them 
cautiously  guarding  their  alleged  rights, 
not  permitting  any  infringements  on  them 
by  others.  Many  of  the  unions  had  con- 
tracts with  the  employers.  These  con- 
tracts expired  at  different  dates.  Most 
of  the  contracts  contained  the  clause  of 
"no  support  to  others  when  engaged  in 
a  controversy  with  the  stock  yard  com- 
panies." 

—  14  — 


The  directory  of  unions  of  Chicago 
shows  in  1903  a  total  of  56  different 
unions  in  the  packing  houses,  divided  up 
still  more  in  14  different  National  Trades 
Union  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor.  Imagine  what  an  army  of  gen- 
erals, and  every  one  of  them  with  conflict- 
ing plans  and  interests. 

What  a  horrible  example  of  such  an 
army  divided  in  itself.  This  was  best  dis- 
played in  the  last  desperate  and  pitiful 
struggle  of  the  stock  yard  laborers  against 
the  announced  wage  reduction  from  17  to 
16  cents  an  hour  in  1904. 

They  who  have  so  often  helped  others 
when  called  upon,  could  have  reasonably 
expected  the  support  at  least  of  those  who 
were  working  with  them  in  the  same  in- 
dustry. 

Nor  would  their  expectations  failed  of 
realization,  if  the  other  workers  had  been 
given  a  free  hand. 

No  wage  worker,  if  he  has  any  man- 
hood in  him,  likes  to  be  strikebreaker 
by  his  own  free  will.  That  there  are 
thousands  of  strikebreakers  in  Amer- 
ica is  due  to  the  discriminative  rules  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  unions. 
Due  also  to  the  high  initiation  fees,  as 
high  as  $500.  But  the  history  of  strikes 
prove  that  where  no  restrictive  meas- 
ures are  enforced,  the  workers  in  one 
plant  instinctively  make  common  cause,  in 

—  15  — 


every  conflict  witli  tlicir  employers. 

Not  so  when  the  lash  of  a  sacred  con- 
tract is  held  over  their  head.  The  break- 
ing of  a  contract  in  most  of  the  cases 
means  suspension  from  the  union.  It  means 
that  the  union  agrees  to  fill  the  places  of 
men  or  Avomen  who  suspend  work  in  viola- 
tion of  contracts.  This  is  so  stipulated  in 
most  of  the  agreements  with  the  employ- 
ers. In  more  than  one  case  lal)or  leaders 
have  helped  the  employers  to  fill  the 
places  of  the  rebellious  workers.* 

Now  in  that  strike  of  butcher  workmen 
in  the  stock  yords  they  looked  to  the  en- 
gineers, the  firemen  and  others  to  quit 
their  jobs.  They  expected  the  teamsters 
to  walk  out  in  their  support  as  the  latter 
themselves  had  gained  their  demands  only 
by  the  support  of  all.  And  really  all  the 
members  of  these  craft  unions  were  pre- 
pared and  ready  to  lay  down  their  tools. 
The  strike  would  have  been  won  within  24 
hours  if  all  would  had  stood  together.  The 
employers  realized  that.  They  sent  for 
their  lieutenants  of  labor.  Over  25  labor 
leaders  conjointly  helped  to  force  the 
workers  back  to  their  stations.  Drivers  al- 
ready walking  out  were  told  to  return  or 
their  places  would  be  filled  by  other  union 
men.  The  engineers  were  commanded  to 
abide   by  their   contract    with    the   com- 

*  Read  "Crimes  of  the  Labor  Leaders," 
by  the  same  author. 


IG  « 


.■^«- 


panics.  Union  printers,  memebrs  of  the 
'I'ypographical  Union,  employed  in  the 
printing  plants  of  the  stoeK  yards,  were 
escorted  every  day  through  the  picket 
lines  of  the  poor  strikers.  These  aristo- 
crats of  labor  even  looked  down  with  con- 
tempt on  the  men  and  women  whom  an 
illfate  compelled  to  be  slaves  of  the  mag- 
nates of  "Packingtown."  All  the  appeals 
to  the  manhood  of  these  union  -  strike- 
t»reakers  was  in  vain.  Stronger  than  their 
sense  for  duty  and  for  solidarity  in  the 
struggle  of  members  of  their  own  class, 
was  the  "iron  gag  and  chain  of  craft- 
union-law  of  non-interference.''  The  con- 
tracts Avere  the  weapons  in  the  hands  of 
the  capitalists,  by  which  the  craft  union- 
ists were  forced  to  wear  the  brandmark  of 
strikebreakers.  They  were  made  union- 
scabs  in  the  hours  when  concerted  action 
would  have  pulled  down  the  flag  of  boast- 
ful defiant  triumph  from  the  palaces  of 
the  bosses,  and  would  have  raised  up  the 
banner  of  working  class  victory  on  the 
miserable  pesthouses  in  which  men  and 
wnmen  and  children  are  compelled  to 
drudge  for  mere  existence.  Yes,  these 
were  the  weapons  used  by  the  meat  bar- 
ons of  America  to  \dtimaiely  extinguish 
;ill  unions  of  workers  in  their  employ. 

Not  the  capitalists  could  defeat  the 
workers,  not  they!  The  craft  unionists, 
forced  by  the  lieutenants  of  the  employ- 

—  17  — 


ing  class,  (because  they  are  indirectly 
their  servants),  defeated  themselves.  They 
shattered  not  only  their  own  hopes,  but 
the  hopes,  the  confidence,  the  aspirations 
of  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  who 
had  thought  after  all,  that  unionism 
meant:  Solidarity,  Unity,  Brotherly  Sup- 
port in  Hours  of  Strike  and  Struggle." 

This  is  how  they  lost!  Not  only  in 
Packingtown,  but  in  almost  every  in- 
dustrial place  of  production  in  that  period 
referred  to.  That  was  the  way  the  em- 
ployers did,  and  still  do,  rally  their  forces 
in  their  successful  efforts  to  defeat  labor. 
By  slashing  piece-meal  the  Giant,  tied 
hand  and  foot  by  a  paper  contract, 
they  throttled  him,  threw  his  members 
out  of  joint,  so  that  his  enormous  strength 
eould  not  be  used  against  his  oppressors. 
Oh,  but  they  would  not  kill  him,  oh  no! 
He  who  is  so  useful  to  them  to  create 
everything  so  that  they  who  do  nothing 
may  abound  in  luxury  and  debauchery. 
He  must  only  be  kept  within  his  cage,  his 
dungeon  where  he  drudges  with  the  sweat 
of  his  brow,  bent  over  in  blunt  indiffer- 
ence, carrying  stupidly  his  burden,  the 
weight  of  a  world  that  depends  on  him  for 
its  existence.  Believing  that  he  is  eter- 
nally condemned  to  be  a  slave  he  perishes 
and  falls  by  the  wayside  when  his  useful- 
ness for  the  master  class  ceases. 

Craft  unionism,  the  American  Federa- 

—  18  — 


tion  of  Labor,  has  made  him  the  pathetic 
wage  slave,  always  contented  to  be  no 
more  than  a  wage  slave  and  so  its  off- 
spring (John  Mitchell's  Organized  Lab- 
or), with  no  higher  ideals  and  sublime 
hopes  for  a  better  life  on  earth. 

In  the  curses  and  vows  of  condemna- 
tion, intermingled  with  the  outcries  of 
despair  when  the  burdens  become  too 
heavy,  one  can  hear  not  so  much  hatred 
expressed  against  those  and  their  class 
(who  Shyllock-like  only  ask  and  take 
their  good  pound  of  flesh),  as  against  the 
vampires  who  suck  the  lifeblood  of  the 
workers,  destroy  their  hopes  and  ener- 
gies, stultify  their  manhood,  and  who 
live  and  dwell  in  debaucheries  akin  to  the 
masters',  whose  pliant  dirty  tools  they 
are,  and  who,  more  than  anything  else,  are 
responsible  that  the  workers  loose  their 
battles  and  their  fights  for  a  higher  sta- 
tion in  life. 

They,  whether  their  names  be  Gorapers, 
Mitchell,  Duncan,  Tobin,  Golden  Grant 
Hamilton,  or  what  else,  are  the  vultures, 
because  they  exist  only  by  dividing  they 
workers  and  separating  one  from  an- 
other. They  have  been  and  are  doing 
the  l)idding  of  the  master  class.  Upon 
them  falls  the  awful  curse  of  a  world 
of  millions.  They  who  have  made  Amer- 
ica the  land  of  the  lost  strikt*s.  the 
land  where  from  the  mountains  and  the 


19 


hills,  and  in  the  plains  and  vales  resound 
the  echoes  of  the  curse  of  a  millionfold 
outraged  working  class.  They  are  those 
that  the  world  should  know  as  the 
traitors,  the  real  malefactors,  the  real  in- 
stigators of  the  apalling  defeats  and  be- 
trayals of  the  proletarians. 

The  land,  where  the  depravity  of  the 
vultures  threw  thousands  back  into  the 
stage  of  distrust,  thousands  who  lost,  be- 
cause they  confided  and  trusted  to  others 
and  did  not  know  what  they  were  coming 
together  for,  were  confiding  only  to  be  de- 
feated,— To  be  lost,  to  be  abandoned  in 
the  desert  (where  there  is  no  escape  from 
the  meeted  punishment),  by  those  who  de- 
stroy the  workers  so  that  they  can  continue 
their  debaucheries  at  the  expense  of  the 
working  class.  That  land  America,  has 
given  the  greatest  lesson  to  the  workers 
of  the  Universe.  Let  it  be  hoped  that  all 
will  profit,  all  will  learn  and  will  put 
forth  their  efforts  to  redeem  the  workers 
and  prepare  them  for  their  mission,  for 
the  real  struggle,  for  their  industrial  free- 
dom, the  only  freedom  worth  fighting  for. 

Why  they  lost,  you  now  know, — how 
they  will,  yea,  must  win,  learn  that  too, 
and  then  gird  your  loins,  help  to  undo, 
help  to  reconstruct,  help  to  win ! 


20 


HOW  STRIKES  WILL  BE  WON. 


The  capitalists  could  not  defeat  the 
workers,  not  they!  Tlie  workers  always 
defeated  themselves  by  either  their  lack 
of  unity,  or  because  they  had  faith  in  the 
false  theories,  and  thought  it  to  be  vir- 
tuous to  scab  upon  each  other  under  the 
name  of  craft  unionism.  They  were  and 
are  told,  and  believed  it  too,  that  con- 
tracts with  employers  of  labor  are  sacred 
instruments.  This  idea  sprang  again  from 
the  false  premises  that  property  rights  of 
the  employers  are  inviolable.  Therefore 
the  workers  who  bind  themselves  down 
by  an  agreement,  by  virtue  of  which  they 
coiniiiit  themselves  to  injure  other  fellow 
woi-kers  rather  than  l)e  guilty  of  breach 
of  contract  with  the  employers,  consider 
themselves  parts  of  the  property  of  the 
employers  during  the  period  contracted 
fur  and  whik'  engaged  at  work. 

Tbe  paramount  issue  from  to-day  is,  to 
remove  the  causes,  to  destroy  false  errone- 
ous notions  and  ideas.  To  establish  new 
|)i-eiiiis('s  and  henc(;  also  new  mediums  for 
dealing  willi  the  problems  of  these  times, 
so  that  as  a  logical  result  the  workers  will 
know  how  to  strike  and  how  to  win,  and 
how  to  govern  their  actions  accordingly. 

—  21  — 


HOW  UNITY  WILL  BE  ESTABLISHED 
ON  THE  INDUSTRIAL  FIELD. 


Lack  of  unity  being  one  of  the  causes 
of  defeat,  the  idea  suggests  itself  that 
the  workers  must  look  for  a  way  unity 
can  be  established.  In  craft  unions  they 
are  divided.  Being  divided  in  the  place 
of  production  they  are  divided  and  in 
each  other's  hair  in  all  other  places. 

But  even  if  they  were  united  on  other 
fields,  political  and  otherwise,  the  master 
class  would  simply  smile  so  long  as  they 
see  them  disunited  in  the  factories  and 
the  mills. 

All  wealth  flows  from  the  process  of 
production.  Production  is  carried  on  for 
the  profit  of  the  few.  The  means  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution,  viz,  the  fact- 
ories, mills,  mines,  railroads,  etc.,  are 
ever  being  concentrated  in  the  hands  of 
fewer  and  fewer  people.  They  form  a 
class  of  their  own  composed  of  those  who 
are  the  owners  of  the  means  of  life  needed 
by  millions  who  work  for  them  for  mere 
wages.  They  have  at  their  command,  in 
the  protection  of  their  interests  as  owners 
of  the  industrial  resources,  all  other  in- 
stitutions, viz.  schools  and  colleges,  ec- 
clesiastical institutions,  the  government 
and  all  its  agencies.  But  after  all  it  is 
their  united  interests  as  owners  of  the 
land,  mines,  factories,  mihi?  and  means  of 

22  


transportation  that  forces  the  other  in- 
stitutions into  their  service. 

The  workers  (without  whose  labor  these 
resources  of  wealth  would  have  no  value 
for  their  owners),  have  also  interests  in 
common,  in  the  same  place  where  the  cap- 
italists have  interests  that  bind  them  to- 
gether. But  the  interests  or  the  workers 
are  opposed  to  those  of  the  owners.  The 
workers  continually  strive  to  get  a  larger 
control  of  the  product  of  their  labor  in 
these  places  of  production,  be  it  in  the 
shape  of  higher  wages,  shorter  hours  of 
work,  more  sanitary  conditions  or  protec- 
tive measures  against  dangers  to  limb  and 
life.  But  the  success  or  failure  of 
Iheir  efforts  depends  on  the  strength  of 
the  combination  of  interests  of  the  work- 
ers. Just  so  as  the  increase  in  power  and 
concentration  on  the  side  of  the  capitalists 
depends  on  the  combination  of  their 
mutual  interests  in  every  station  of  life, 
so  does  the  interests  of  the  workers  de- 
pend on  the  power  of  organization. 

In  the  craft  divided  unions  of  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labor  there  is  no 
power.  Therefore  observe  the  constant  de- 
feats or  what  is  worse,  compromises,  by 
virtue  of  which  the  capitalists  allow  a 
small  proportion  of  mechanics  to  have  a 
union  so  to  prevent  the  larger  masses 
from  getting  together.  The  workers,  how- 
ever, are  impelled,    to  comt>ine    their  in- 

—  23  — 


dustrial  interests  as  a  class  if  ever  they 
wish  to  win  their  battles,  the  same  as  the 
capitalists  have  their  combinations  to 
further  their  class  interests  and  to  defeat 
the  workers.  The  workers'  interests  will 
be  best  protected  by  combinations  on  in- 
dustrial lines.  That  means  that  the  work- 
ers of  one  given  plant,  or  industry,  come 
and  stay  together  in  one  organization  em- 
bracing them  all,  all  working  under  one 
rule,  and  all  combined  for  mutual  self- 
help.  On  one  side  as  employer  an  in- 
dividual, a  corporation,  or  even  a  trust, 
on  the  other  side  will  be  one  union  of 
workers  in  one  plant,  or  in  all  plants  of 
that  one  corporation.  The  builders  of 
machines,  for  instance,  will  not  be  divided 
in  ten  different  groups.  They  all  will 
form  the  industrial  union  of  machine 
builders.  All  the  unions  of  machine  build- 
ers will  form  a  part  of  an  organization 
constituted  of  workers  in  the  divers 
plants  and  factories  where  wage  earners 
work  in  metal  and  machinery  articles. 
And  as  the  workers  in  other  industries  or- 
ganize also  on  the  same  lines  they  all  form 
the  combination  of  workers  for  the  pro- 
tection of  their  interests  as  a  class.  A  com- 
bination which  will  develop  the  power  by 
which  the  workers  will  be  able  to  win 
their  fights  for  more  control  in  the  places 
where  they  work,  and  finally  for  the  com- 
plete control  of  the  huge  instruments  of 

—  24  — 


production  and  distribution. 


NO  MORE  CRAFT  UNION  SCABBERY 
AND  TREASON. 

Thus  united,  and  "craft  union"  form 
eliminated,  the  workers  will  have  no 
reason  to  produce  the  scab  or  strike- 
breaker, nor  will  anyone  have  a  cause  to 
become  a  strikebreaker  himself.  The 
shield  of  craft  unionism,  held  to-day  in  de- 
fense by  those  who  remain,  as  union  men, 
at  work  while  others  in  the  same  factory 
and  mills  are  out  on  strike,  will  be  shat- 
tered to  pieces.  The  stigma  of  an  outcast 
from  the  class  of  workers  will  fall  on  him, 
who  in  spite  of  the  appeal  of  hi.s  strug- 
ling  fellow  workers,  prefers  to  be  faith- 
ful to  the  master  class.  To-day  the  cow- 
ard and  traitor  often  protects  himself  by 
referring  to  his  allegiance  to  the  union  of 
his  craft  and  its  rules.  When  industrially 
organized  the  workers  will  owe  but  one 
obligation,  and  that  is  to  the  class  of  mill- 
ions who  are  of  their  own  flesh  and  blood, 
l)ecause  they  are  partners  in  want  and 
distress. 

One  union  for  all, — and  once  a  union 
man,  always  a  union  man.  Because  craft 
unions  cliurgi;  arljitrary  initiation  fees, 
some  of  them,  as  the  green  bottle  blowers, 
$500.00  (five  hundred  dollars),  and  others 

—  25  — 


from  $50.00  to  $200.00,  it  follows  that  men 
and  women  who  have  not  the  means  are 
debarred,  and  driven  to  become  strike- 
breakers. In  the  craft  unions,  if  a  man 
looses  his  job  and  finds  employment  in 
another  industry,  and  wants  to  be  a  union 
member,  he  is  charged  another  initiation 
fee.  Some  workers  have  to  carry  cards 
of  four  and  five  unions  in  their  pocket 
and  pay  dues  to  as  many.  Do  you  wonder 
that  the  strikebreakers  are  breeded  out  of 
such  conditions,  rendered  so  because  of 
the  barriers  that  are  erected  against  the 
invasion  of  territories  that  the  craft 
anionists  think  is  their  exclusive  domain. 
In  an  industrial  union  unity  will  be 
established  throughout  the  universe.  Once 
a  member  of  a  labor  organization  a  man 
or  woman  may  change  occupation  and  yet 
immediately  step  into  the  union  of  work- 
ers comprised  of  those  who  are  engaged 
in  that  other  industry.  That  is  unionism 
that  unites,  unionism  that  in  reality 
means:  "Unity,  solidarity,  standing  to- 
gether, brotherly  support  in  hours  of 
strife  and  struggle  ! ' ' 

NO  SACRED  CONTRACTS. 

Power  alone  does  talk.  When  employers 
of  labor  insisted  and  succeeded  in  having 
the  clauses  inserted  in  most  of  the  wage 
contracts  of  craft  unions:  "That  no  strike 
be  called  during  the  life  of  the  contract, 

—  26  — 


nor  sympathetic  walk-outs  in  support  of 
others  tolerated  by  the  union,"  their  ob- 
ject was  to  divide  the  workers.  Not  only 
that,  they  also  wanted  a  chance  to  prepare 
themselves  after  the  termination  of  these 
time-contracts,  so  to  defeat  the  workers  if 
they  Avould  endeavor  to  get  more  con- 
cessions. By  these  time-contracts  the  em- 
ployers annihilate  even  the  little  power 
there  may  be  in  a  craft  union. 

The  workers  organized  in  industrial 
unions  will  not  permit  the  crippling  of 
their  power  by  such  contracts.  Gains  will 
be  made  in  the  control  of  shop  conditions, 
and  they  will  be  able  to  hold  all  achieve- 
ments by  establishing  the  "closed  shop" 
and  the  "open  union." 

Relations  between  the  capitalist  class 
and  the  working  class  are  determined  by 
the  power  that  each  is  able  to  exercise  in 
the  pursuit  of  their  antagonistic  claims. 
As  an  illustration,  power  is  generated  in 
a  steam  l)oiler,  power  by  which  the  ma- 
cliines  of  production  arc  driven.  On  the 
intensity  of  the  fire  below  the  boiler  does 
it  depend  whether  high  or  low  pressure 
is  generated.  When  the  pressure  goes  up 
too  high,  the  safety-valve  is  there  to  re- 
lease the  pressure  and  prevent  the  boiler 
from  blowing  up.  The  regulation  of  fire 
is  therefore  the  essential  thing  to  keep 
steatti  nnd  power  at  a  desired  pressure. 
Applied  in  the  labor  movement  it  works 

~  27  — 


the  same  way.  The  fire  which  generates 
the  pressure  is  the  working  class'  produc- 
tivity and  its  discontent.  If  that  discon- 
tent can  be  accumulated  by  the  organiza- 
tion stirring  the  fire  up,  and  be  utilized, 
the  pressure  in  the  boiling  pot  of  produc- 
tion will  rise.  When  it  reaches  the  point 
of  danger  the  capitalist  class,  unable  to 
kill  the  guard  at  the  fire-door,  that  is  the 
organization,  is  compelled  to  release  the 
safety-valve  by  granting  reforms  and  con- 
cessions, so  to  save  themselves  from  being 
blown  up  with  the  exploding  boiler  of 
capitalist  production. 

Thus  the  power  of  discontent  properly 
organized  and  judiciously  applied  will  be 
the  instrument  by  which  the  workers  will 
make  headway  in  their  efforts,  and  will 
improve  their  working  conditions  without 
binding  themselves  by  time-contracts  to 
betray  each  other  in  the  struggles. 

Thus  organized  the  workers  will  use  all 
means  that  may  be  at  their  command  in 
their  battles  for  control.  Strikes,  irrita- 
tion-strikes, passive  resistance  strikes, 
boycott,  sabotage,  political  instruments, 
and  general  strikes  in  industritil  plants, 
will  all  be  the  means  applied  with  preci- 
sion, and  changed  whenever  conditions  so 
dictate. 

It 's  for  victory  that  the  workers  are  or- 
ganizing, for  immediate  battle  and  for  the 
final  struggle. 

—  28  — 


THE  FINAL  STRUGGLE. 

The  workers,  industrially  organized, 
will  become  conscious  of  their  power,  and 
they  will  develop  the  faculties  to  operate 
the  factories  and  mills,  etc.,  through  the 
agencies  and  instruments  of  their  own 
creation. 

Thus,  discontent  organized,  and  power 
thus  generated,  the  time  will  arrive  when 
the  release  of  the  safety-valve  on  the  ratt- 
ling boiler  of  capitalist  production  will 
not  save  it,  nor  can  those  escape  who  util- 
ize the  generating  power  of  the  vrorking 
class  to  grind  out  the  profits  anc!  the  sur- 
plus wealth  that  they  squander  while  the 
millions  dwell  in  hovels,  and  struggle  fier- 
cely for  the  means  of  meager  existence 
nnd  life.  The  intense  fire  stirred  up  by 
the  vigilant  fireman,  the  industrial  organ- 
ization, will  generate  such  a  pressure  that 
the  old  rusty  boiler  will  not  be  able  to 
withstand  the  immense  power  and  press- 
ure. With  the  explosion  disappears  the 
pressure  of  discontent.  The  fire  and  power 
of  productivity  alone  remains.  Through 
it  and  l)y  it  tiie  workers  will  begin  pro- 
duction for  use.  Then  will  begin  the  era 
when  men  and  women  will  be  industrially 
free  and  the  world  abliss  with  the  great 
creations  of  a  freed  nation  of  the  universe 
— the  nation  of  toilers. 

Industrial  Unionism  is  the  instrument 

—  29  — 


to  be  constructed  for  these  purposes. 

How  you  have  lost,  fellow  workers,  you 
have  learned ! 

How  you  must  win  and  can  has  been 
shown  to  you  in  these  few  lines. 

What  do  you  choose?  Defeat  or  Vic- 
tory? 

If  for  victory  and  the  triumph  of  your 
cause  you  look,  organize  that  fire  of  dis- 
content, generate  that  pressure,  join  the 
organization  that  proposes  this  pro- 
gramme based  on  scientific,  on  historic, 

on  industrial  facts  in  life be  free  by 

your  own  choice  and  action. 

Such  an  organization  is  the  Industrial 
Workers  of  the  World. 


^^\(^^^ 


I 


TO  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISTS: 

Education  is  an  essential  factor  in  making 
efficient  the  form  of  organization  as  set 
forth  by  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World.  This  fact  must  not  be  overlooked. 
Realizing  this,  The  Industrial  Literature 
Bureau  was  established.  Its  object  is  to 
supply  the  long  needed  want,  literature  on 
Industrial  Unionism. 

So  far  two  booklets  "INDUSTRIAL 
COMBINATIOxNS"  &  "WHY  STRIKES 
ARE  LOST— now  TO  WIN,"  have  been 
published.  In  due  time  more  will  be 
added,  and  in  the  various  languages. 

If  you  agree  with  us,  your  responses 
will  warrant  our  existence. 

For  the  benefit  of  our  patrons  will  en- 
deavor to  supply  any  book  pertaining  to 
Industrial  Unionism  at  publisher's  prices. 

INDUSTRIAL  LITERATURE  BUREAU; 
250  W.  125th  St.,  New  York  City. 


For  The  West  Read 

THE  INDUSTRIAL 
WORKER 

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Advocate 

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I 


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